


Your Hand in Mine

by StormtheCastle



Category: Love Live! Sunshine!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, F/F, Light Angst, Pining, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-13
Updated: 2019-05-13
Packaged: 2020-03-02 11:50:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,590
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18810337
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StormtheCastle/pseuds/StormtheCastle
Summary: You had always known Chika was her soulmate. It had never crossed her mind that she might not be Chika’s. Just some angsty, pining soulmates AU.





	Your Hand in Mine

**Author's Note:**

> A very belated You birthday celebration in which I made her suffer. Whoops.

You knows they are soulmates even before she lays eyes on Chika.

It isn’t conscious knowledge. At the time, she is just a child and hasn’t had a reason to be told of soulmates and soulmarks etched on the body. She hasn’t reached the age where she is able to understand what it means to belong to someone so completely or to have them belong in turn.

But it is there, a subconscious familiarity, when she hears a girl’s voice rise to a shriek about not wanting to go to the daycare and wanting to stay at home with Mito-nee and Shima-nee. (Years later, her sisters will still tease Chika about the ruckus. “You used to always want me around,” Mito-nee pouts, right before Chika hurls another toy at her face in an attempt to get her sister out of her room to leave her and You in peace.)

At the time, however, Chika is agitated and loud and there is something tugging in You’s tummy and You _needs_ to meet her.

So she stands up, abandoning her crayon scribble of her and her papa standing on a ship in matching uniforms, and walks over to entrance.

Her eyes meet teary crimson and the world freezes.

The palm of her hand itches just shy of painful, a feeling that crawls down all the way to her wrist, but You can’t move—can barely even breathe—as something rushes in her chest like a tailwind urging her forward.

The other girl stares back, tears forgotten.

Faintly, as if from very far away, she can hear the adults speaking in curious wonder. “Do you think they-?”

Then, behind You, one of the other kids runs into her back and knocks her forward.

“’m sorry,” You says, jerking back into reality and barely stopping herself from colliding with the newcomer. “I’m Watanabe You. Wanna draw with me?”

The girl needs no prompting and actually starts nodding furiously even before You has finished speaking. “I’m Takami Chika!” she says, vibrating with eagerness. She reaches out and grasps You’s hand without waiting.

Nothing grand happens—no flashy lights or angelic choruses—but the stirring in You’s chest settles.

Chika marches into the room, quickly waving goodbye to her family as she drags You back to where the gray-haired girl had been drawing.

You follows easily.

There is warmth and there is contentment and You knows that everything is right as long as she feels that little buzz of Chika’s presence across her skin like sunshine warming her on a cool day.

And it comes as no real surprise to her—though the adults make quite a ruckus—when they find a soulmark engraved on You’s skin at the end of the day: a name written in bold lines running down the inside of her wrist, not in the center but near the right edge.

Takami Chika.

(-)(-)(-)

When her papa comes home the following week, Chika’s name is one of the first things he sees and hears as You gleefully tells him all about her new soulmate and shows off her mark.

He congratulates her heartily and, much to her delight, swings her up onto his shoulders to the automatic sound of her mama’s, “Be careful with her!”

And then they’re moving and You is chattering about everything that has happened since the last time the family had been together. Her tales take meandering turns through her favorite topics (swimming and Chika) with a couple of rare honorable mentions for everything else. But when she casually answers one of her papa’s questions with an offhand remark about how Chika doesn’t have a soulmark yet, the casual stroll jolts to a stop.

You yelps as she rebalances herself and looks down, but she can’t see the expression on her papa’s face as he gazes at her mama so she looks over as well.

Like all the other times Chika and her lack of a soulmark comes up, her mama looks worried; the corners of her eyes are all pinched together and she’s rubbing her shoulder nervously, where her own soulmark is.

Then, like always, she smiles and says, “We won’t know until Chika-chan gets her mark. There’s always time.”

You doesn’t really get why the adults keep saying that, but her papa echoes the statement and starts moving again and things seem to go back to normal.

 

That night, both her parents sit with her and tell her stories as she drifts off to sleep despite her protests that she’s a big girl who doesn’t need bedtime stories and her confusion because they never had bedtime stories before.

“Why?” she asks, voice slurring with tiredness after the second story about a heroic trio of pirates has ended. She quite likes these stories, but… “I don’t need these stories.”

Her parents exchange glances, but it’s too dark and You is too tired to try to decipher the looks. A hand brushes back her hair and lips press against her forehead. You finally succumbs to sleep, but she still hears the whispered answer following her down into sleep: “We just don’t want you to be alone.”

(-)(-)(-)

You and Chika learn more about the intricacies of soulmarks through Kanan, who is Knowledgeable of Many Things and who You thinks is one of the coolest people in the world.

They’re wandering the beach, feet sinking into the pleasantly warm sand, which they sometimes kick at each other playfully. Every so often, one of them ventures down towards the water—letting the chilled water wash away the grit and to cool down.

It’s during one of those detours to the water when they get into a little war, splashing each other exuberantly and getting soaked. After they call a truce, Kanan grumbles as she rolls up her drenched sleeves until they’re bunched all the way at her shoulder. When she reaches up to fix her ponytail, You sees a flash of color—two colors, to be exact—one on each of her biceps.

“Oh,” You realizes. “Your marks are very pretty.”

Kanan jolts and then lowers her arms, nodding. She doesn’t quite try to hide away her marks, but she does look a bit uncomfortable unlike You’s ease, with Chika’s name visible anytime she reaches out her hand.

Soulmarks are not private, to be hidden away shamefully, but they are personal and a good amount of people prefer to not let it be seen. You isn’t surprised that Kanan prefers to keep hers covered. The older girl’s marks are distracting against her tanned skin: a vivid crimson flower on one arm and equally eye-catching purple stars on the other.

You wonders what they mean.

“You have two soulmarks?” Chika asks. “I didn’t know that was possible! Aww, I wish I had my soulmark already.”

Kanan laughs at Chika’s pout, relaxing. “It’s weird having my soulmark in two places,” she says. “And it’s hard to tell what it means because soulmarks are so personal.” She reaches up to rub a thumb against the petal of the flower gently, reverently. “It could be my soulmate likes these things, or maybe flowers and stars will be important in our relationship.”

She hesitates.

“Or maybe I have two,” she offers. “There are so many meanings I could take from this after all.”

“That sounds hard,” Chika says, frowning in thought.

“At least me and Chika will have it easy,” You grinned. Chika beamed back at her and they smushed together briefly.

“You know, not all…” Kanan stopped and shook her head. “Nevermind. Do you want to go diving?”

The two chime in their agreements and don’t think much further on soulmarks and soulmates. But as they race to Kanan’s family’s shop, in the back of You’s mind, she wonders what Kanan had been about to say.

(-)(-)(-)

Not all soulmarks are matched.

(-)(-)(-)

It isn’t something You consciously notices, until she does. She and Chika are half-heartedly finishing up homework and whole-heartedly chatting in Chika’s room when You’s eyes fall to Chika’s hand which she is absently reaching out to grab a drink with. You realizes she’s looking at a darker, inky color on the palm rather than the expected paleness of Chika’s skin.

Before she can stop herself, she reaches out and stops Chika’s hand. She turns it gently over so she can see it more clearly.

Chika's mark is sprawling, a shadowy mass on her palm and down her wrist and doesn’t look much like a mark at all.

But there are some things that are clear, like the harder, defined lines peeking out from the dark: the kanji for “Sakura” and “I’m sorry” in the bottom half of the mass on Chika’s wrist.

And it certainly is no mirror for You's mark, Chika’s name standing out in stark relief against the rest of her own unmarked skin.

“I was hoping it’d clear up before I showed it to you,” Chika confesses, eyes worried. “It used to be nothing but this dark cloud and I only got the ‘Sakura’ part of the mark yesterday. Shima-nee says that it’ll probably start clearing up as I grow up so I’ll start seeing more of… whatever this is.”

You isn’t sure what to say so she just nods.

“But hey! Maybe this means I’ll do something stupid and accidentally trip over you during the sakura viewing and that’s why it says ‘I’m sorry’ and ‘sakura,’” Chika offers after a moment, self-consciously pulling her hand away from You’s searching gaze.

You blinks and then laughs a little at the thought. “I’ll make sure to be wary each spring,” she says.

She turns back to her own homework, but she can’t concentrate. The numbers refuse to come into focus just like Chika’s soulmark and You wonders why Chika’s mark is so large and why it’s taking so long to appear and why it holds such confusing words. Why did everything have to be so complicated?

She knows that some marks are slow to arrive and some are general enough to apply to different people.

Though for You, there can only be one.

She takes a deep breath and nods to herself.

Yes, she thinks. Chika is her soul mate. Their marks don’t need to mirror each other or match in order to know that.

(-)(-)(-)

You joins the swim team and falls in love with the sport of it all. She has always loved to swim and dive, but now there is competition and teammates and a fiery thrill each time she pours her all into the club.

Her teammates are quick to congratulate her and push her further and it’s exciting.

But they also like to talk about their soulmarks, peering at colors and words and signs splashed across arms or legs and even one etched along someone’s back. And they talk and wonder, trying to twist vague sentences or abstract pictures into reality while You sits back and absently traces the name on her arm.

And anytime there’s a meet or practice and Chika is there, some of the braver in the group will smile knowingly at either You or Chika.

After all, their future is already set in stone. There is no question.

(She misses Chika, even though Chika is usually there, sitting on the side and smiling at her. But something tugs at her soul, a yearning she can’t name.)

(It doesn’t matter what her soulmark says. You still has questions.)

(How is it that they are meant to be, but Chika feels farther away than ever?)

(-)(-)(-)

Chika falls in love with idols.

You doesn’t need to think about it before she decides to join Chika’s idol group.

As if in response, Chika’s mark reveals a winding parade of musical notes drifting across the dark cloud of her unfinished soulmark.

(-)(-)(-)

You is shocked to find her own palm with a new addition to her soulmark: a round orange disk settled on the part of her palm below her index finger.

Neither she nor Chika can figure out what it means.

“Maybe it’s a sun?” You asks.

“Eh, why a sun?”

You quickly decides that anything she might say about the sun in relation to Chika would be far too cheesy so she just shrugs sheepishly.

“It’s obviously a mikan,” Chika decides gravely. “Another sign that we are meant to be.”

“I already have your name, why would I need another sign like that?” You asks, bemused.

“You-chan, that’s not romantic at all!” Chika chides jokingly, not noticing the slight flush on You’s cheeks at that. “My spiritual connection to mikans must be acknowledged!”

You manages to cover her flustered reaction but does spend the next week bringing extra mikan for Chika’s bottomless appetite for the fruit. If Chika thought mikans were the peak of romance, You was going to give her mikans.

Then Sakurauchi Riko arrives.

(-)(-)(-)

The new student walks into the classroom and You feels her breath leave her lungs.

She’s beautiful.

When their eyes meet from across the room, You manages a small smile, hoping none of the rushing _wow_ in her chest showed on her face.

The amber eyes blink and the moment passes. The girl turns away to the rest of the people in the room as she introduces herself.

Then, Chika shouts, “It’s a miracle!” as she jolts out of her chair and You sees the pretty new student’s eyes widen. She sees—shock, realization, wonder—and how the other girl’s hand drifts unconsciously to her hand (the same hand that both Chika and herself have their soulmarks).

Her name is Sakurauchi Riko. _Sakura_ —

Riko draws back in the face of Chika’s exclamation. “Oh, you’re…!” she starts to say before falling silent.

There’s a lump in You’s throat and suddenly she feels bereft, separated from the duo who stare at each other as if they are the only people in the room.

She thinks, _it can’t be… right?_

The two stare at each other until Chika breaks the silence to ask Riko if she could become an idol. She’s hopeful and thrilled and enraptured.

“I’m sorry,” Riko says, bowing down.

Her apology rings in You’s ears, such common words taking on an entirely different meaning as Chika freezes in shock.

When Riko looks back up, she can’t meet Chika’s gaze and looks past her shoulder instead. You almost recoils when their eyes meet once more and she sees something immeasurably sad.

This time, it’s You who looks away.

(It’s so obvious now. How You’s soulmate has always been Chika, but Chika…)

(-)(-)(-)

Chika chases Riko.

It would almost be funny, how Riko looks increasingly harassed each time she catches sight of Chika, but underneath her friendly amusement and secondhand embarrassment, You feels her gut anxiously churning.

She has known Chika for forever, but even she can’t tell if Chika’s chasing Riko because of her usual give-it-her-all attitude and her consuming love of idols or if it was…

Well.

You knows how it feels to want to be close to her soulmate. To want to be together and just share joy and passion and excitement. It was why she had joined Chika in trying to become a school idol in the first place.

Though why does Riko try so hard to run away?

As if summoned by her thoughts, Riko turns the corner ahead of You’s ambling walk. Riko is moving at a speed just shy of a run and she isn’t looking where she’s going, head turned so she can repeat, “I’m sorry!” over her shoulder.

You barely manages to see what’s happening before she’s flat on her back with a warm body on top of her and strands of red hair covering her face. There’s a moment of silence as the two of them don’t move.

Riko scrambles up. Her face is flushed and she apologizes profusely, holding out a hand to a still-dazed You. You can only look up at the open hand, still thrown off balance, but then she sees the soulmark on the palm of Riko’s hand.

_That’s odd_ , she thinks. _Chika-chan’s soulmate has a ship tattoo._

(She also sees a glimpse of the word “miracle” and what might have been the character for “Takami” on Riko’s wrist, but she had already guessed—known—those would be there.)

“Um…”

You blinks and quickly reaches up, hoping her staring hadn’t been too noticeable. Her palm tingles where it meets with Riko’s but she ignores it to pull herself up. “Chika-chan can get very invested when she focuses on something,” You says with a small smile, hoping to distract Riko.

“She’s like a dog,” for some reason, Riko shudders, “with a bone.” But then she smiles, a soft expression that makes You feel simultaneously better and worse about Riko being Chika’s soulmate. If Riko could make that kind of expression while thinking of Chika, then the two of them had hope.

You takes a breath. “She has a lot of love,” she murmurs. “You should give her a chance. It’s not every day you meet your soulmate.”

Riko freezes and then yanks her hand back to cradle her soulmark, a blush rising on her cheeks. (You hadn’t even realized they had still been holding hands the entire time. That was… strange.) “How did you know—I mean—That is—” Riko halts and bites her lip. “Of course you know,” she finally sighed. “You’re her best friend.”

“I—” You subconsciously brushes against the name on her wrist. “I mean, yes.” She realizes abruptly what time it was. “We should get to class,” You mutters. Without waiting for a response, she hurries off down the hall.

(-)(-)(-)

Chika asks You to go diving with her and Riko. “I want her to find her music,” Chika admits with a touch of hope and something like longing in her voice. Something lurches in You and she is tempted to refuse, but the thought of being away from them sounds even worse so she nods and agrees.

They meet up that Sunday at Kanan’s shop. The sky is dreary and gray, the clouds heavy with water and the promise of rain. Riko looks both worried and grimly determined and even Chika looks a bit put-out by the weather but You surveys the horizon and pronounces that there was still hope for the sun.

Riko isn’t assuaged and looks nervous as she gets ready with Kanan’s steady help but Chika brightens. You feels her own spirits lift and distracts Chika further by posing in her wetsuit.

And then they’re out above the dark, choppy water.

When they dive, You can barely see anything in the gloom. There’s only her, Chika, and Riko, floating in an endless inky void. Riko is tense; frustrated.

Whatever she is searching for eludes her.

But Chika, who took You’s earlier words to heart, gestures for her to wait and You understands.

After an age (or maybe even a moment), the clouds part and both her and Chika point up towards the growing light. Sunlight breaks through and illuminates the water, sending streams of light shining down on them. It’s as if the light has made everything alive below the surface—all around them schools of fish shimmer on their journeys and splashes of color dot the floor below.

And as Riko’s hands raise, trembling, to an imaginary piano and presses down—

She thinks she hears something, a faint stream of song.

Her hand burns.

(-)(-)(-)

The winding line of music notes on Chika’s palm that is seared into You’s memory is now reflected on her own palm.

It’s beautiful.

(-)(-)(-)

They learn to become idols and fall into a ridiculously easy rapport.

They don’t acknowledge their soulmarks and it’s so easy to do so. Somehow, when the three of them are together, pouring themselves into the music, You forgets everything. All her worries, her resignation, her fears—they drift away in laughter and jokes and a sense of miraculous belonging.

Planning choreography and music and costumes are just one part of their whole.

Riko shows up at some of You’s swim meets with Chika, shy and quiet against Chika’s rowdy cheering—but You feels hyperaware of her gaze as she darts through the water.

You and Chika sit in the music room either quietly or with easy chatter softening the silence as Riko slowly taps one key and then another on the piano.

Riko helps You hunt down a special edition version of some Muse concert and they crash Chika’s place for an entire night of binge watching her favorite idols.

(Chika _and_ Riko’s hands as they wait for their first concert are so warm.)

(-)(-)(-)

Chika starts bringing extra mikans for the both of them.

They taste extra sweet.

(-)(-)(-)

Aqours grows.

You barely has time to think about soulmates under the load of school, swim, and Aqours. And with the number of… interesting characters that have joined their group, You finds herself more often distracted by the other members of the group than her thoughts.

She’s glad that they’re getting more people, even of some of them are… stranger than others.

After a particularly draining practice, Chika hangs back and lets the rest leave without them. You waves to Yoshiko to leave without her, sensing that Chika wants to talk. Her best friend looks anxious and You frowns at her in concern. “What’s wrong, Chika-chan?”

Chika hesitates long enough that You starts considering the possibility of extremely dire news but then Chika holds up her hand, palm facing outward to You.

You looks at it obediently and does not need to ask why Chika is showing her mark to her.

Chika’s mark—still incomplete?—had filled out Riko’s name completely, transforming “Sakura” into “Sakurauchi Riko.” The darkness of the soulmark’s “clouds” had lightened too, so the name, the “I’m sorry,” and the familiar line of music notes stand out more clearly than before.

You swallows, all her focus on the “Sakurauchi Riko” pointing back at her.

She’s not sure what to say. The tip of her tongue wets her lips. She wants to say something like, “ _I love you_ ” or “ _It was supposed to be me_ ” or maybe even “ _Choose me_ ” but the words shrivel in her mouth when she thinks about how Chika and Riko… belong together.

“I’ll still be your friend,” You says past the lump in her throat.

Something deflates in Chika before she smiles tremulously. “Are you giving up?”

You barks out a laugh. If it’s slightly teary, they don’t acknowledge that. “That’s my line, Chika-chan,” she chokes out. And, “You’re meant to be with her.”

The pain on her wrist is enough that she finally looks down. “Are you giving up?” stares back at her.

She hates it.

But then Chika grabs her hand and lifts it up, staring at the words there and something in her gaze firms. She turns You’s hand over so she could link their fingers and stares at You. “We’ll do this together, You-chan.”

 (-)(-)(-)

They have a picnic together, just the three of them, and You doesn’t think about belonging and not belonging and fated matches and painful marks on her skin.

Because when they are together, she can’t help but feel like they all belong. Warm and content.

Riko brought an unholy amount of sandwiches and Chika brought an equally terrifying amount of mikans and You laughs at them both when they stare wide-eyed at the other. You brought out an entirely reasonable amount of blankets (1) along with everything else they would need.

They settle down in the shade of a tree and You is contemplating the beautiful green surrounding them when she hears the sound of Riko struggling to open the wrapper of something, accompanied by Chika’s barely concealed giggling. She turns her head to see Chika lifting her shaking phone up while Riko struggles to wrench apart a bag.

You is about to offer to try her hand at it when it pops open and Riko finally realizes what Chika is doing. “Chika-chan!” she complains, just as the noise of a photo being taken makes itself known. “Why?”

“Because!” Chika replies cheerfully. Her eyes slide to the side to meet You’s amused gaze and her eyes light up further at the sight.

Riko huffs and starts to lift the sandwich to her mouth when You is struck by a sense of mischief and she whips out her phone as well. “Hey, Riko-chan,” she says. “Say cheese!”

The other girl turns to her in shock and You snaps the picture.

The shock and following pout doesn’t last for long before Riko joins in their laughter. “I’ll get you two back,” she warns before finally managing a peaceful bite of her food.

You grins back before looking down at the picture she had just taken. It’s a good picture and she traces Riko’s face absently before leaping a little at her actions. Deciding not to think on it further, she sets it as Riko’s photo in her contacts and tucks away her phone to rejoin the conversation.

They spend the rest of that time struggling to get the best photos of each other in between talking about everything and nothing, long periods of being almost in tears from laughter as they joke around, and even moments where they all fall silent in a doze.

And though the photos could capture the dappled sunlight and the clear blue skies, they can’t preserve the sweet breeze of spring or the sound of laughter echoing through the air.

You doesn’t mind.

She closes her eyes and breathes in. She’ll remember this.

(-)(-)(-)

Riko goes back to Toyko for her piano competition and You feels like a shadow—fully aware of the Riko-shaped hole she is trying to fill.

She’s not Riko.

(You can match Riko perfectly, mirror her stride and rhythm, and even the graceful sway she sometimes puts into her movements. And still, she’s not enough.)

Then, hands grope her chest and You yells, flinging her attacker over her head.

She stares down at Mari a moment later, apologies on her tongue, but as the blonde gets back to her feet, wincing, she’s also smiling with far too much understanding.

(-)(-)(-)

She’s not jealous of Riko. She isn’t.

She just…

(Perhaps she’s been pushing Chika too far. Perhaps all her assumptions—that Chika was her soulmate, that Chika loved her the same way she loved Chika, that they could make their marks _work_ —)

(Maybe Chika doesn't want her around after all.)

Then, Mari is squishing her face between her hands and You yelps.

“Have you considered that maybe it's both your soulmarks that are incomplete?” Mari asks, her voice light. She’s facing away so You can’t see the expression on her face. “That you don’t know who you are meant to be with yet?”

“I think the names are pretty clear,” You mutters rebelliously, still cradling her cheeks.

Chika and Riko belong together.

You… just belonged to Chika.

Mari turns. Smiles. “Did you know?” she asks idly. “It’s possible to have more than one soulmate?”

It takes You very little time to get what Mari is implying as her mind immediately jumps to Riko. She sputters. “Are you saying that…? Me and Chika-chan and… Riko-chan…” Her cheeks heat up.

The corners of the third year’s eyes crinkle in amusement at the expression on You's face. “I’m not saying anything.

“But you need to be honest with Chika-chi,” Mari continues. “About how you feel.” The rays of sunset light casts a warm orange glow over everything, including Mari’s quiet voice. “I wasn’t honest with my best friends and was too scared by what I interpreted things should be.”

Mari smiles again, a self-deprecating twist of her lips.

“I know what I’m talking about.”

(And You remembers a time years ago when she had seen Kanan’s _two_ soulmarks.)

(She also remembers how close the third years sometimes got now that they had joined Aqours and their conflict had been resolved. The casual ways they brushed against each other, comfortable and subtle. The way they knew the ins and outs of each other’s thought processes enough to rile up or calm down.)

As they fall silent, You allows herself to consider, just maybe, a world where it’s not just YouandChika but YouandChikaandRiko.

She thinks of shared picnics and long nights over idols and hands fitting neatly in hers.

It’s a wonderful dream.

(-)(-)(-)

The following morning, Chika runs up to her, smiling as she presents a cute little wristband and You feels something stir within her as she accepts the band.

It’s from Riko.

“ _I’m here_ ,” she’s saying to them all, a message that Aqours was 9 people. A message that she will be with them when they perform.

_I’m here_.

And damnit, You knows the spirit in which Riko meant the wristband to be, but all she can think of is _I’m here_ in how it is Riko’s name etched on Chika’s skin and Riko’s steps and _Riko_ that is all Chika seems to see.

How can You say anything when Chika doesn't seem to see You at all?

(-)(-)(-)

Riko is not quite at the top of the People You Doesn’t Want to Talk to Right Now list, but she's up there. (Riko is beaten out by Yoshiko with her late night little demon recruiting attempts and Dia with her equally late night special training attempts.)

Still, You only contemplates Riko’s photo in the screen for a moment before she gives in and answers the call.

“Sorry, I’m being kind of selfish,” Riko says after You confirms that she's taking Riko's place in the song.

“No, you’re not,” You blurts out. It wasn’t Riko’s fault that she had to make peace with her past. (It wasn't her fault their soulmarks had happened like this. That destiny had brought her into their group and to Chika.) “You just need to focus on your recital and I'll fill in your spot.”

“That’s—You shouldn’t… worry about me. You should do whatever is easiest for you two.”

You breathes out. “It’s… I already…” She’s already filled in the Riko-hole with her own Riko-copy.

As if she knows, Riko says, “Don’t force yourself to adjust. You have your own unique way of moving.” She sounds so concerned, so understanding that You finds herself speaking before she can stop herself.

“It’s fine, you know. I’ve always gotten things quickly. I’ll fill in your spot perfectly until you’re back.”

There’s a long enough pause that You thinks the call has dropped when Riko speaks again, her voice forceful enough to be just shy of angry. “It’s not my spot, it’s _yours_. You’re the one performing there.” She stops, and then more calmly, “I’m sure Chika-chan thinks so too.”

You appreciates the sentiment. “It’s okay, Riko-chan,” she says. “I know you’re the best one to be by Chika-chan’s side. After all…you’re soulmates and she looks so happy when she’s with you.” Her voice falters but she pushes forward. “And she always says she’s doing her best for you.”

“So that’s how you see it.”

A tear escapes and You hastily goes to rub it away.

“I know Chika’s your soulmate.” Riko’s words are blurted out with little finesse, and You flinches a little at the unexpected statement.

“How did you—?” She sputters for a bit, unable to respond. She couldn’t deny it, but…

“Chika-chan is happy with you too,” Riko continues when You finally gives up on saying anything. “And you’re hurting. Don’t think we haven’t noticed.”

You swallows.

“Why didn’t you tell me? Back before… I could’ve… I could’ve tried harder to stay away—I mean. Why did you even let me join in the first place?”

“Because Chika wanted you there.” Something trembles in You’s chest, because that’s not quite right. She tries again. “Because we needed you.” That was closer. And yet…

“I didn’t need to be part of Aqours to compose for you,” Riko says, her voice a pale whisper in the night air. “…I don’t have to be part of Aqours even now.”

You swallows back an inappropriate laugh. She thinks she understands now. “Are you saying you’ll leave Aqours? For me?”

“I don’t want to hurt you, You-chan.”

She isn’t quite ready to acknowledge that having Riko leave would hurt her too, so instead she asks, “Are you giving up?”

The phone is silent for a moment. “I’m not Chika-chan,” Riko finally says.

“No. You’re _Sakurauchi Riko_.”

“I… don’t understand.”

You tries one more time, the words leaving her lips without needing to be forced, and yet seeming like the hardest thing she has ever said.

“I _wanted_ you to join us. I want you to stay. Because you belong with us. You’re one of us.” Perhaps You means Aqours. Perhaps she means the little duo that was Chika and You.

She hears a sharp inhale of breath.

She thinks Riko understands anyways.

(-)(-)(-)

The call ends soon after and You takes a deep breath to calm herself down from the emotional turmoil when she starts hallucinating Chika’s voice.

By the third call of “You-chan!” she realizes it isn’t a hallucination and Chika is actually there. By her house. Grinning up at her.

And Chika wants to practice. She wants to match with _You_. She doesn’t want You to fill in Riko’s shoes. She just wants You to be You.

You exits her house backwards and trots several steps back. She can’t quite turn around to face Chika yet, but she reaches back with her hand, blindly groping for Chika. But before she can make contact, Chika takes hold of her wrist and stops her search.

“You-chan? Can you turn around?” Chika asks. “There’s something...” There’s an undercurrent of emotion in her voice that You can’t figure out so she turns around at last, quietly mourning how Chika’s hand lets go to allow her movement.

Chika’s flushed and sweaty beside her discarded bike. Her hair is windswept and she flicks some of it back impatiently as she looks at You.

(Chika came all the way to her house to talk to her?)

(She’s an idiot. Of _course_ , Chika would come. She always does.)

“You-chan, I've loved you—no, I _love_ you—even without needing a mark on my body telling me to,” Chika begins and You’s brow furrows in confusion and a touch of fear.

What was Chika talking about? And why was she bringing it up now?

Seeing her expression, Chika huffed a little. “I’m not doing this right,” she muttered. She lifted her hand, turning it to bare her soulmark to You once more. When You doesn’t look at it, she sighs. “You-chan, _look_.”

Urged by Chika’s pleading gaze, You looks. She freezes.

“Do you get it, You-chan? We’re soulmates. You’re not alone.”

There, wonderfully clear on Chika’s wrist, settled in between Riko’s name and “I’m sorry” is another name.

Watanabe You.

(-)(-)(-)

After You has tackled Chika to the floor, after the tears subside, You speaks.

“About Riko-chan,” she begins.

“Mhm?”

“I think I might…” You picks her words carefully, because she doesn’t want to raise Chika’s hopes, but she also thinks it’s right to say what she says next. “I think I _can_ love Riko-chan too.” She thinks about the space on her wrist between Chika’s name and the “Are you giving up?”

It’s a perfect spot for another name.

Chika stiffens and then it’s her turn to tackle You. “I love you,” she whispers fiercely in You’s ear. “I love you and you don’t have to force yourself to do this.”

You tightens her arms around Chika. “I love you too,” she whispers back. “And I’m not. I _want_ this.”

(-)(-)(-)

They perform their song. Each step, each word is perfectly synced.

Their feelings are one.

And after the song comes to an end, as they hold up their fists in unison, You feels a tingling rush along her hand and wrist.

When she finally has a moment to look at her hand, her soulmark is an almost perfect mirror for Chika’s.

There’s the sun at the very top corner of her palm, the only splash of color for a mark that is just black for everything else. Then there is the winding line of musical notes meandering across her palm and across the details of a full-rigged ship. And along the inside of her wrist are Chika’s name and her phrase.

There was only one thing missing—and You knows with unquestionable certainty that it will appear, settled in the center of her wrist in the same spot where her own name is on Chika’s wrist and where Chika’s name is on Riko’s wrist.

She smiles.

(-)(-)(-)

They don’t really have time to talk about what their soulmarks mean or how they’d approach their relationship because the next time the three of them are together, they’re in Tokyo trying to find out what had made Muse so special.

But finally, _finally_ , they have their chance on the train on their way back to Uchiura.

The sun has set, but there is still the remnants of light in the sky, a warm, fiery promise of their resolution to turn zero into one.

The first years sleep peacefully together while the third years sit nearby, talking quietly. So, You and Chika take their chance to kidnap Riko into the other side of the train car for some semblance of privacy. They sit at one of the little booths, Chika and You on one side and Riko on the other.

“What is it?” Riko asks. Then she notices Chika and You’s linked hands and the eagerly nervous expressions on their face. Her expression shutters before she smiles awkwardly. “Oh, I see. Congrat—” she stops in confusion when both of them hold out their free hands out towards Riko.

“Not all soulmarks mean one person,” Chika says.

Riko’s eyes very obviously stray back over You’s shoulder towards the third years before returning to the two in front of her. “You can’t mean—”

You lifts her hand higher so her soulmark is very clearly in Riko’s line of vision.

Surely Riko would recognize the ship, and maybe even other aspects of the mark depending on how much had appeared on her own hand.

“You don’t have to answer us now,” You says quickly, feeling anxious under Riko’s uncertain gaze. “But… I want this too. This isn’t…” she huffed out a laugh. “This isn’t Chika diving in at full speed.”

“Hey!”

Riko’s lips twitch up a little at that. “You’re certain?” she asks carefully.

You nods, meeting Riko’s gaze squarely. “It’s supposed to be us three. Can’t you feel it?”

It’s a truth her younger self had known implicitly since she had met Chika that she had forgotten in the rush of trying to match symbols and names and physical signs to emotional reality. Because where soulmarks could be subjective and confusing, the love beneath it all was not.

They belong together.

Riko raises her trembling hands. Then she slips them into Chika and You’s offered ones.

They fit perfectly.

(And later, when they finally bother to look, the soulmarks are fully colored across the entire palm. A bold blue sky and deeper blue sea surround the ship, interrupted only by the still-black line of musical notes and the sun. Their wrists have the others’ names written in personalized styles—Chika’s name full of flourishes and bold orange strokes; You’s name a bright, cheerful blue; and Riko’s name more restrained, but wonderfully visible pink.)

(But for now, they are not aware of those changes. They fall asleep together, lulled by the movement of the train.)

**Author's Note:**

> You versus Yō versus Yo. Does anybody know if there’s some sort of convention to not get confused?
> 
> Little things that didn’t make it into the fic:
> 
> \- Having their marks all appearing at the same time when Riko first started to play piano.  
> \- A soulmark that is just 3 mermaids  
> \- a first words au where Riko has “Wait! You’ll die!” for Chika’s first words to her
> 
> In extra news, depending on my free time (which is severely limited, ugh) and my brain, I’m aiming for some sort of fic for Mari’s birthday (waffling between all her possible pairings because I love her) and then hopefully back to The Guilty Party.


End file.
